Whispers Forum

The Appellant sought information regarding the decision of the Hon’ble High Court of Delhi in a particular case wherein a direction for issuing detailed set of instructions in consultation with CBEC regarding the detention of imported goods was made. In the light of the unpreparedness exhibited by the Respondent present at the hearing, the Commission was compelled to postpone the hearing by four weeks. The CIC directed to issue notice to the CPIO Import. Further, the Chief Commissioner of Customs, Delhi Zone was instructed to revisit the provisions of the RTI Act in his jurisdiction and issue directives to all the concerned officials to sincerely look at the preamble of the RTI Act 2005 and its various provisions for the ease and convenience of the information seekers. The Commission also instructs the Respondent Public Authority to convene periodic conferences/seminars to sensitize, familiarize and educate the concerned officials about the relevant provisions of the RTI Act, 2005 for effective discharge of its duties and responsibilities.
Comments
In view of a large number of appeals coming up for hearing where the PIO has failed to perform his duty or seems unaware of the provisions of Act, the CIC has passed strictures and has directed to convene trainings for the officers.
Citation: : Mr. R.K. Jain v. The Commissioner of Customs, New Delhi in Appeal No.:-CIC/CCCDZ/A/2017/101575-BJ-Interim, Date of Decision: 07.03.2018
Dr. Anuradha Verma (dranuradhaverma@yahoo.co.in) is the co-author of the books: RIGHT TO INFORMATION – LAW AND PRACTICand PIO’s guide to RTI. Her other articles can be read at the website of RTI Foundation of India at - http://www.rtifoundationofindia.com/

debate (1)
Nagabhairava Jayaprakash Narayan, founder and president of Lok Satta Party is a former civil servant who made it to IAS in 1980 standing All India topper [Rank 2]. He resigned from IAS in 1996 because he found faulty governance as the biggest hurdle in the path of progress. His 16-year-long career includes several achievements in agriculture, irrigation, technology and youth Rehabilitation projects in Andhra.
Smart Smart everywhere, not a glimpse to see !
It was only in the year 1978 that the concept of Adarsh schools was introduced in certain pockets of the state. After 40 years, it has become obvious that the scheme has miserably flopped. A few years back, a new slogan was given by the state govt to make the gullible people believe that the govt was serious about the studies in the government schools and now even that pompous slogan of 'Parho Punjab' along with 'Khelo Punjab' has been buried deep in the dusty files of secretariat and directorates. The Meritorious schools have since lost its lustre in only a few years of their establishment, so the Education department is now bringing new and attractive product 'Smart schools'. Let us see what change these schools bring to enhance peoples' faith and trust in government run educational institutions.
In the year 2014,the Centre government had brought in new concept of smart cities and hundred Indian cities were selected to be converted into smart cities. Lot of politics played part in the initial selection of such cities. Thereafter, major time and resources of Municipal Corporations and local self govt was spent in formulating imaginary projects, answering the thousands of queries of the state and the centre governments, and making presentations here, there, and everywhere .What has come out of it so far ? Not anything worthwhile except for some grants, which have not brought any perceptible change for the betterment of citizenry. I am not aware as to when the New Delhi city was built any catchy slogan was given to it ,like' Beautiful city' or 'Heaven 'city'. Chandigarh, which is universally known as a 'Beautiful city' was never given any magic name, when its construction was started Slogan of free smart phones to the students adorns the political files only so far.
My close relative's village was selected under the 'Adarsh Gram Yojna' by the member of parliament, under the highly publicized govt of India scheme, for each member of parliament to select one village in each parliamentary constituency, to convert it into an Adarsh village. The Sarpanch and some members panchayat were also related to us. Member parliament fixed meeting in the village to chalk out development plans of the village.Special pandal ,nice chairs and tables and all other paraphernalia were arranged. Catering for the guests was ordered to a city hotel. Many officers including deputy commissioner, senior superintendent of police accompanied the member parliament. The Sarpanch had very carefully drafted the 'Honour paper' (Maan patar),which is in other words is a 'Charter of demands' or (Mang patar).He asked for a college, a 100 bedded hospital, a veterinary hospital, a panchayat ghar, a girls' higher secondary school, besides turning it into a sub-tehsil and a block. Grants for stadium, drainage, village ponds, dharamsala, houses for the poor and for toilets etc were emphatically demanded. Naturally the chief guest had to agree to most of them. Everyone in the village was happy. Six months passed and nothing happened except that panchayat became poorer by about 2 lakh rupees. spent on the first meeting of the Adarsh village. Whenever the member parliament was approached for the grants, he would say that so far no funds were received. After 2 years the member parliament gave some money out of MPLAD funds, but not before the panchayat organized a function, but at a lower scale than the previous one.I made inquiries about some other such villages, which were also awaiting the funds. Their fate was also similar. More than 4 years have passed, nothing has happened to the village. Sometime after the smart cities scheme was declared, it was also in the news that some selected villages would also be made smart. At that time the Panchayat had lobbied hard to get the village selected as a smart village. But the wisdom has dawned on the village. now. During the next visit of the member parliament to the village, only ordinary tea was served in the house of the sarpanch. The sarpanch, in a lighter vein, told the member parliament that during the next elections, we should try to mention in the manifesto that if their party won, they would bring smart govt at the centre and Adarsh govt in the state.
Surinderjit Singh Sandhu, Amritsar

Debate (1)
Yashwant Sinha, former Union Minister and once BJP stalwart, is also a former civil servant who later joined politics. Sinha joined IAS in the year 1960. Before joining the politics, he completed 24 years of service and resigned from his post in 1984. He joined active politics when he became a member of the newly formed Janata party. He became a Member of Rajya Sabha in 1988.
Serving the Nation with proud
As per one of the reports, 1% of people have 73% wealth of the country. It is big digital divide and inequality among equals. There are reports about parallel economy in the country. Parallel economy may be one of the reasons for unequal distribution of wealth. Banks NPAs is increasing each passing days which puts extra burden on the Govt. exchequer. Govt. is facing big challenge to meet the account deficit. This parallel economy may be due to people not paying the required taxes and there are large number of tax exempt institutes which are permitted by the Govt. Can some method be devised that these institutes also pay the taxes on donation and contributions as the same will be utilised for the nation buildings. Tax compliance for salaried class is higher as there is no option to evade it. But the Govt. has no methodologies and procedure to assess the income of professionals like doctors, lawyers, traders, contractors, film stars, sports persons etc. In this area concerted efforts are needed to assess the income of professionals so the tax compliance is higher and generate more revenue to the Govt. Cryptocurrency is another area where information and knowledge is limited with the Govt. and requires hard work to understand it fully so these can also be taxed properly. To work on these areas, Govt. has to reorient the priorities to deploy the staff to work in innovative way to get the desired results instead of wasting time and energy to chase the low income group people who has deposited Rs. 50,000/ cash and purchased mutual funds of small amount say Rs. 50,000/-. We have to create a trust among the people and awareness about paying taxes in the interest of the Nation. Let us start a small step in this direction making Sr. Citizens having income below 5 lakhs scrutiny free. It means that there will not be scrutiny of ITRs of Sr. citizens having income less than 5 Lakhs. This has to be publicized in big way to create trust among the assesses and tax authorities or Govt. It will have a great impact on the perception that Govt. cares for Sr. citizens and others also in long run. It will give positive results and number of return filers and as well as revenue will increase. This has to done in correct perspective to create a positive response from the public. We believe and care our Sr. Citizens. Think out of box for positive results.
Naveen
Targetting Finance Secretary
It will be recalled that in 2016, a concerted campaign was started against the then Revenue Secretary by sections of bureaucracy in revenue departments who found him inconvenient because of his honesty and integrity. He was subsequently also promoted as Finance Secretary.
Now once again, those who are unhappy at the strict actions on his directions against various wrong-doers, are making a determined effort to ensure that he is shifted. They are indulging in devious games like sending false complaints against certain honest officers investigating high profile cases and forcing the Finance/Revenue Secretary to act against such honest officers. They are also hinting that he is from Gujarat, thereby indirectly they are targetting the PM. This is serious matter and the common man will not accept such dark activities by the dishonest people.
Manu Ashar

DEBATE (1)
1975 batch Madhya Pradesh cadre IAS officer Bhagirath Prasad is a successful bureaucrat politician. Bhagirath Prasad who was in the Congress party joined the BJP in 2014 and became MP from Bhind.
R K Nandi
Notification on lateral entry shocking
I am shocked to see the notification on lateral entry. How can a private or Public Sector fit into the system which works on the principle "maximum people, maximum benefit or general welfare of society”. The executives know only one language "profitability". Also they will have no loyalty to the system rather will be more loyal to the industry they will come from. Instead people with Minimum Ph. D. and a book or some papers to their credit, having experience as academicians or NGOs etc be taken provided they are real experts in their field for which they are being selected. The screening of IB/Police/CID etc be also done in each case. Initially appointment be for 2 years and if he delivers or proves his worth, the tenure be extended on 2 years basis with promotion every six years.
Harish Kumar
Why is labour ministry fooling country ?
Who is behind the decision of implementing enhanced tax free gratuity of Rs 20 lakhs w.e.f. March 29, 2018 instead of January 1, 2016 and also against cabinet approval for CPSE, PSB and Pvt Sector where over one lakh retired employees were affected. Govt will know the repercussion in 2019 general election. Also, the EPFO has mislead the Supreme Court issuing an order on June 8, 2018 for EPF 95 pension revision where exempted organisation were not covered and around 80 lakhs retirees were not covered. Why labour ministry is fooling this country with fraud data.
Rao

DEBATE (1)
Alphons Joseph Kannanthanam, currently serving as the Union Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology, Culture, and Tourism, is also a former civil servant who resigned as an IAS officer in 2006 after serving for more than 26 years and won the seat in Kerala assembly election under the Communist Party. He is currently a member of BJP.
Anshumali Joshi
Fiddling with Administrative Architecture
We have witnessed experiments with administrative architecture in the country with nothing inspiring. Some were inducted by direct entry at middle level or higher, in the case of many their backbone were removed with disastrous results. Then came the breed which drew salary from the exchequer but served the private sector. The CVC meanwhile grew from one to three and cases ten times more. It takes less time for a court case to be decided than a vigilance case, where too the court only delivers the final verdict. It takes crores of rupees for the government to select, train and hone them on the job for decades to produce a joint secretary to the government of India or equivalent. It takes the private sector just a few lakhs more per annum to seduce and pinch that trained officer or specialist and mint money advertising his/her government designation and reputation. Why? To encash his/her expertise, credentials and integrity. To illustrate: XYZ Multi Specialty Hospital ad reads- best cardiac services by Ex-HoD AIIMS. The rest is commercial secret known to us all as patient died of dengue billed 16 lakhs. Same in every field from education to petroleum to telecom to language tools. The devoted government servants’ children refuse to even look at civil services after seeing their parents’ real conditions. Here are people in the private sector who want to be inducted in government service directly without any competition, screening, vigilance record or experience. Has public service suddenly become so lucrative? “Dented” in the states and “painted’ in the centre the smart guys learn the ropes fast and turn “committed” as per condition of appointment. Blaming parallel government is in that situation a topic for mad TV debates. The Constitution mandates Public Service Commissions at the centre/states for recruitment/promotion purpose only but talent is deliberately wasted, rusted and demoralised only to induct experts and specialists from the open market. Nothing wrong with newer experiments once again, but it would leave enough “powers” for the next parallel government to use it as it would like to. Good luck to public service!
M L Gupta
Time is running out
I fully agree. The time is running out and even hardcore supporters are feeling that govt is not serious about prosecuting the corrupt, and is also going soft on anti national elements especially in Kashmir. The govt knows that these elements don’t matter, as they will never support BJP, even after all appeasements. On the other hand, supporters are getting disillusioned. I am sure corrective and expeditious steps will be taken soon, to reassure the supporters that the govt stands firm on action against corruption, and antinational activities
S Chatterjee

DEBATE (1)
Ajit Jogi is a popular politician who earlier was a bureaucrat. He became the first CM of Chhattisgarh when the state was carved out in 2001. Jogi studied Mechanical engineering at Bhopal, winning the University Gold Medal in 1968. He resigned from IAS and joined the Congress.
S Sharma
“ Savdhan, Indian Bureaucracy”
The union government has invited applications from “ professional and experts “from private sector for induction into the " laid-back " Indian bureaucracy. All as Joint Secretaries, the cutting edge level for initiating policy decision making. There are ten vacancies in key ministries including Revenue, Economic Affairs, Financial Services, Civil Aviation Commerce and Shipping.
Let us be upfront in analysing the implications. The private sector honchos will play crucial role in selecting the most suitable candidate for the right job. The lateral entry of executives from the open market, will enable top business houses to push their favourites into policy making machinery so that they could manipulate decisions in their favour. A distinct possibility in absence of antecedents verification of aspirants by IB, IT, CBI, ED and other watchdog organisations. The ignorance of inductees about governmental functioning ,practices, rules and regulations ,will make them vulnerable to manipulation.
This is not to cast aspersions on the merit of private sector executives. But, they are not trained to uphold the doctrine of bringing maximum good to maximum people. How could career bureaucrats belonging to different Services be expected to ignore the wrongdoings ?
The criteria for selection, that is, whether through Search committee procedure or simply by pick- and- choose is not spelt out. Total absence of accountability and transparency will result in " fixed matches ".Whatever may be the selection criteria, interference by top business houses, ( euphemistically called “legitimate consultation” ) cannot be ruled out.
Here is an example. An executive was picked up under UPA era straight from a private sector to head a miniratna PSU. He had good connections with the power that be. He rose to head a maharatna within six years. Sacked by PM Modi, investigations were carried out by the CBI, based on the inputs from C&AG about financial frauds and irregularities. The CBI is now going slow in pursuing the case. One does not know, at whose behest ?
A K Saxena (A former civil servant)

The go-slow approach by ruling dispensation headed by PM Modi in investigating UPA's multiple scams ,is baffling . All cases must be taken fast-forward to logical conclusion. For pending cases , the courts must be requested for expeditious hearing. The CJI is urged to intervene. All remedies must be utilised to prevent miscarriage of justice. The progress of each case should be kept in public domain for scrutiny. The tax payers are entitled to know details of misappropriation of public funds and the penalty imposed. The Nation wants to know before next general elections.
The UPA’s scams (2004- 2014)read like rule book of fraudsters. One loses the way while counting zeroes in loss figures, stunned by the audacity and brazenness with which the UPA ministers flouted rules to enrich themselves ,their kins and cronies.
Action may be taken on following points :- (a)strengthen CBI’s manpower by filling vacancies; (b)Fix a time frame for completing investigation ; ( c ) Giving long adjournments by courts must be banned by the CJI; (d) The defence will always derail and delay conviction citing flimsy grounds. This may be monitored by the courts.
A K Saxena (A former civil servant)

The appellant sought details of the municipal laws enacted/ amendments of acts done, both central & state on the basis of international treaties & conventions ratified by the Government of India. The PIO informed the CIC that such details are not held exclusively by any public authority and the statutory enactments are already in public domain.
Comments
Under the RTI Act, the PIO is expected to provide the information as available to him. He is not expected to categorize the statutory enactments on the basis of requirements of appellant as per a given parameter.
Citation: : Govardhan G. Bhasme v. MHA in F. No.CIC/MHOME/A/2017/133556 CIC/MHOME/A/2017/154208, Date of Decision: 27.03.2018
Dr. Anuradha Verma (dranuradhaverma@yahoo.co.in) is the co-author of the books: RIGHT TO INFORMATION – LAW AND PRACTICand PIO’s guide to RTI. Her other articles can be read at the website of RTI Foundation of India at - http://www.rtifoundationofindia.com/

DEBATE (1)
One and only Mukesh Ambani can be Trump. When he can build an empire he can make India strong.
Raghav Sen
DEBATE (1)
Mukesh Ambani can be trump because at present Indian economy is managed by him.
Michelle Nigam
DEBATE (2)
My choice is Mukesh Ambani because of his political acumen. He knows how to walk with the time.
P Maroo
DEBATE (3)
Mukesh Ambani is very sharp with political vision and he could be Trump of India.
R Srivastava
DEBATE (4)
Only Mukesh Ambani. He is running the biggest empire in the country and knows how the run. He can managed the country.
Paresh Sanghvi
DEBATE (5)
Of all the topics you have put for debate on WIC all these years the current one as to who could be the Donald Trump of India among the ten names given is the most irrelevant. In India we do not have a Presidential form of Government as in USA. Our electoral system is different where donations are not sought for campaign and where none of the rich people you named is aligned with any of the prominent national party. Please end this debate and find some relevant subject for the next debate.
Aarti Khosla

DEBATE (1)
Kumarmangalam Birla can be Trump of India because he is intelligent having political vision.
Mukul Jain
DEBATE (2)
Gautam Adani can be Trump because he knows where the wind in blowing. He is also go-getting.
R P Modi
MoD allows officers to fly in Pvt airlines
Should be allowed by in all central govt department where AI is not flying by the cadre controlling department
P T Kumar

DEBATE (1)
Ratan Tata is suited but he has nothing negative so he can’t be Trump.
S Banerjee
DEBATE (2)
Anand Mahindra is the most ethical and astute businessman amongst the current young lot. He has the vision and the energy to become another Trump.
No promotion since long
This is because senior level officers are not affected by the policy of reservation in promotion. The problem is escalating in those cadres where reservation is to be applied for promotion from a Group B post to a post in the lowest rung in Group A, such as, Under Secretaries in CSS, Assistant Directors in Intelligence Agencies, Assistant Commissioners in Revenue Department etc. Though the Supreme Court has declared reservation in promotion contra - vires to the Constitution, the GoI in not in favour of implementing this judgement and hence no promotion is being done to lowest rung of class I post for last three years or so. Can any one listen and solve the problem?
Surendra Singh